Fai Tira back home in Dartmouth.   50:21.28N 03:34.38W

10^th  September 2011

We had fairly good weather crossing Biscay but not only was the temperature dropping, the barometric pressure was as well and quite quickly.  We knew we were heading towards the path of the remains of Hurricane Katrina but hoped we would be safely back in Dartmouth before it went through.

Our crew member Baz doing his chores.

We progressed very well and rounded the corner off of the Brittany coast at about 3am and but as soon as it got light the winds dropped and the fog came down.  This could have been a major problem as we were crossing some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, but we had our trusty Automatic Identification System (AIS).  The AIS was set with a safety ring around the boat of 2 miles and any vessel, with AIS, that comes into that zone sets off an alarm.  The alarm was going off quite a lot but we managed to negotiate our way between some massive ships, which were sometimes doing up to 15 knots, without hitting any of them.

Here I am proving that I do drink beverages other than beer - tea in this case!!  And here is the Biscay team pleased to have transited safely across this notorious stretch of ocean.

The fog cleared after about 12 hours and we watched a rather large container ship disappear into the mist travelling west.   We had one last night to go and hoped to arrive at midday on Saturday.  I woke at 6am to start my shift and saw Start Point Lighthouse flashing in the distance.  The wind was starting to pick up so we reduced sail and headed for home. 

We eventually saw Start Point through the gloom (look closely).  Then headed across Start Bay to the entrance of the Dart.

At 7am we were called up by Brixham Coastguard who welcomed us back and asked us for our ETA as a few people wanted to know our arrival time.  We had made such good time that we could have been in Dartmouth for 8am but I knew they were expecting us about lunch time.  Not wanting to hang around out in the deteriorating conditions I gave them an ETA of between 10am  and 11am.  We reduced sail even more to just a little piece of

genoa and slowed down to 1.5 knots through the water but found ourselves doing 3.5 knots over the ground because of the tide flooding into Start Bay.  Eventually the entrance of the Dart appeared and we headed in.  The RLNI inshore lifeboat just happened to be “exercising” in the mouth of the river so they came over and greeted us.

Chris, Kevin and Darren welcomed us back.  Kevin climbed on board with my RLNI wellington boots which were sporting a bottle of very nice champagne.  Big thank you to all the RLNI team and note we have flown the RNLI flag in virtually in every port we have visited.  Today was no exception.

Wow made it!!! And what a reception, loads of family and friends on the embankment making lots of noise.

The tears in my eyes made it difficult to see where I was going to moor up!  Well that’s my excuse.  Dart Harbour had reserved us a place on the Town Quay so we had to reverse against the tide into quite a tight spot.  The RLNI practiced at being a bow-thruster and we tied up to the pontoon. 

Fai Tira and its crew were home.

Judy and Dee were there with all the family and lots of friends and well wishers.  What a great reception.

Me and Baz, who had travelled from Majorca on his first long sail and me and John, who had completed this great adventure (not holiday!!).

The champagne flowed like water and so did the tears.  We’ve made it.

Just time for me to thank everyone and tell one last joke before the Callis family and friends headed off to the Dartmouth Arms for a decent pint of beer and a steak bagette.

THE END.